Sales and Marketing Plan - Paper Example

In each successful company in the hotel industry, the development of an effective sales and marketing plan is one of the key strategies that should be upheld. As the Sales director in a 1000-hotel room in Denver, Colorado it is my utmost responsibility to develop a marketing plan for the three-day conference which will have 800 attendees. To come up with a profit guaranteeing marketing plan, I need to involve various departments of this hotel, consider metrics vital for the sales team and consider metrics essential for the marketing team.

Sales team working with other departments to develop the marketing plan

Departments in this hotel that are necessary for the development of an ideal market plan include the; front office department, accounting department, sales, and marketing department and catering department. The front office s among the nervous departments in this hotel since it focuses on providing constant contact with the guest for this hotel. As the sales director, I will be able to have the records on guest attendance and hence delegate these departments in ensuring to offer quality customer services. To be precise, the front office department will establish a smooth channel of communication between the conference managers and the sales and marketing team which will avoid misunderstandings during the organization of the conference.

The accounting department will enable me to come up with annual trends on conference charges during different seasons. It will hence allow me to come up with a fair price to charge for the three-day meeting which is in agreement with the current market charges hence avoiding overcharging which may result to ruining the hotels reputation. The catering department will enable me to provide various designs of arranging the conference to make the marketing plan more appealing. In conclusion; offering reasonable charges, different conference models, offering appropriate hotel expenditure and providing quality communication will hence result in the development of a profitable sales and marketing plan.

Metrics important to the sales team

The sales team is considered to be the department that ensures proper business dealings with the customers and public at large. In this hotel, the sales team should consider the following metrics; occupancy, lead response time, sales cycle metrics, marketing collateral usage, opportunity win rate, specific action metrics, room metrics and customer satisfaction. Room metrics, in this case, will enable the sales department to provide the sufficient number of guest that can fit and also the various designs that the conference can be arranged. It hence will enable the sales team to provide a smooth decision-making process for the both the sales team and the conference managers.

The lead response time is a metric that focuses on the speed of responding during the development of a business deal. In this case, the quick response by the sale team when contacted by the conference attendants or managers will create a good relationship between these two parties. Sales cycle metrics will ensure that the sales team is aware of the variation of hotel charges in accordance with the season. If the three-day conference is taking place during the off-peak season the sales team will be able to offer low hotel costs and vice versa if it is during the peak season. These metrics will enable the sales department to come up with ideal decisions during the designing and implementation of the sales and marketing plan.

Metrics important to the marketing team

The marketing team should consider the quantitative metrics and quality metrics. In quantity metrics; the marketing team contemplates metrics like reach, leads generated and revenue. Reach metrics will focus on ensuring that the sales and marketing plan will contain all the necessary information which will enhance easy access to this hotel. It will include providing the hotels email database, blog subscribers, and social media followers. It will hence ensure that the conference attendees will be acutely aware of the hotels geographical, social and financial position.

Achieving high revenue is one of the prime objectives for the marketing team hence upholding the metric of income will enable the team to realize a large profit margin for the hotel. Quality metrics are subdivided into MQL-to-Opportunity %, lead-to-Customer %, ADR, Rev ADR, Lead-to-Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) %. Each of this metrics focuses on attracting clients like the conference attendees via comparison on the rate of advertisements against the number of guest in this hotel. For instance, the Lead-to-Customer % is a metric that illustrates the marketing effectiveness hence if the metric is low it implies that the marketing team should change its mode of marketing.

Developing a sales and marketing budget for the event

In the development of a sales and marketing budget, there are key parameters that should be included. These parameters include; basic inventory for current reports, demand patterns, paid advertisements, marketing collateral, production costs, technology costs, sales percentages and revenue management culture. The listed feature focuses on analyzing the past performance of the hotel and its current business position. Upholding these features in developing a marketing budget will result in the realization of an extensive profit margin. For instance; analyzing demand patterns during the development of a sales and marketing budget for the event will ensure that the hotel will set a budget which has affordable prices for services to be offered during the three-day conference.

Analyzing; technological cost, production cost and marketing costs will enable the budget to be simple to understand since the expense of each service offered will be illustrated. It will avoid misunderstandings since the budget can be readily agreeable between the sale team and the conference managers. The development of a strong revenue management culture in the budget will be developed through doing a necessary inventory of current and past reports to create an ideal budget. Average revenue will ensure that all cost incurred during the marketing and offering of various services during the conference will be well calculated. Upholding of the listed factors will result in the development of an appropriate sales and marketing budget.